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Coal Pillar Stability Investigation for High-Intensity Mining in the Water-Rich Coal Seam: A Case Study

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Abstract

The coal seam in the southern coal field of the Ordos Basin serves as the main aquifer, while the region is known for its high-intensity coal mining activities. The coupling effect of mine water and the strong disturbance caused by high-intensity mining have brought serious challenges to the stability of coal pillars. To address this, a formula for determining the reasonable width of coal pillars under the aforementioned coupling effect and establish a criterion for coal pillar instability in this paper. A case study was on the 11,215 working face at the Xiaojihan coal mine in the area to investigate coal pillar stability. Results indicate that the strength and stability of the coal pillar are affected by the water content, with a small water content increasing its strength and large water content weakening it. In high-intensity exploration of watery coal seams, the best stability of the coal pillar is achieved at optimal water content and mining rates. For the Xiaojihan coal mine, the optimum water content and mining rate are 3.31% and 20 m/d, respectively, ensuring the efficient mining of watery coal seams. Furthermore, this study's findings can provide valuable references for the mining design of coal mines with similar geological conditions in the region.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51674241). The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for constructive comments that helped to improve the quality of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Feng Ju & Dong Wang

  2. School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Feng Ju & Dong Wang

  3. China Coal Technology and Engineering Group, Taiyuan Research Institute, Taiyuan, 030006, China

    Zhongwei Wang

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  1. Feng Ju
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Conceptualization, F.J. and D.W.; Project administration, F.J.; Methodology, F.J., D.W., and Z.W.; Resources, F.J.; Funding acquisition, F.J.; Supervision, F.J.; Formal analysis, D.W.; Writing—Original Draft, D.W.; Writing—review and editing, D.W.; Visualization, D.W., Z.W.; Investigation, D.W., Z.W.. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dong Wang.

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Ju, F., Wang, D. & Wang, Z. Coal Pillar Stability Investigation for High-Intensity Mining in the Water-Rich Coal Seam: A Case Study. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 41, 743–768 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-024-00929-z

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